47

^tt The Horse is of more value than the Man.The Tyger

fierce

"Laughs at the Human form; the Lion mocks & thirsts

for blood.

"They cry, `0 Spider, spread thy web.' Enlarge thy

bones &, fill'd

"'ith marrow, sinews & flesh. Exalt thyself, attain

a voice.

(K. I. 398-405)

The song establishes an order of perverted destruction in which the Human Form Divine is submerged by carnage: '"Luvah & Vala ride/ "'Triumphant in the bloody sky, & the Human form is no more'" (K. I, 408-409). The uncontrolled passions, symbolized by Luvah and Vala as the sun, threaten Urizen's usurped power and an enraged Urizen responds violently: "Rushing back. redd'ning with rage. the Mighty Father/Siez'd his bright sheep hook studded with gems & gold" (K. I. 413-414). The conflict between Luvah and Urizen results in a fall: "down rush'd the Sun . . . nor Sun nor Moon/By night nor day" (K. I. 415-418). The song has a choric function: it recapitulates the fall, anticipates the sacrifice of Luvah and Vala in the first universe, and predicts the birth and chaining of Orc in the second:

"Tharmas endur'd not; he fled howling; then, a barren

waste, sunk down

420 "Conglobing in the dark confusion. Mean time Los was

born

"And thou, 0 Enitharmon! Hark, I hear the hammers of

Los.

"They melt the bones of Vala & the bones of Luvah into

wedges;

"The innumerable sons & daughters of Luvah, clos'd in

furnaces,

"Melt into furrows; winter blows his bellows: Ice &

snow

425 "Tend the dire anvils: Mountains mourn, & Rivers faint

& fail.

"There is no City, nor Cornfield, nor Orchard; all is

Rock & Sand.

"There is no Sun, nor Moon, nor Star, but rugged wintry

rocks.